Recent History
In 1974 the Buninyong Gardens Restoration Committee was formed to improve the area which had become rather neglected and overgrown. Work continued in the 1980s and by 1985 the major project for the 150th Anniversary of Victoria was completed.
I n 1993 the Buninyong Shire Council received a report on the Gardens which recommended plantings for the development of an Acer species (Maples) aboretum at the Gong Reservoir Reservoir.
From 1993-1995 intensive weed removal was undertaken by the Buninyong Shire Council under the leadership of public-spirited local identity, Derrick Leather.
With local government amalgamation in 1994 the responsibility for the Buninyong Botanic Gardens was entrusted to the Ballarat City Council which has commissioned a Conservation Study and Landscape Masterplan.
During the 1990s children at the Buninyong Primary School used the area adjacent to their school for environmental science field studies developed by teacher Chris Rowe.
In 1999 Heritage Victoria registered the Gardens and Gong on the Victorian Heritage Register and to the present there is much local interest in seeing the area improved to a standard worthy of its historic importance.